The Malfoy and His Protector
by RileyAnora
Summary: Draco has one true friend. One confidant. One person he truly loves and trusts in the world. Her name is Raksha. She is a panther. Sort of. Will be completely AU with a different creature thrown in there and tons of random things that don;t actually happen in the book.
1. Chapter 1

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Prologue…

1st year

Draco Malfoy had expected the day to go like any other. He expected to wake up, take a shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, and ride his broom. But that day would change the life of Draco Malfoy forever. As he headed outside to stroll through his mother's gardens out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of black. His head snapped over to it. Seeing nothing, he shrugged and continued on. He walked about another five paces until he saw it again. The flash of black. This time he spun around and raised his wand, shouting, "Expeliarmus!" There was a snarl, a rustling of leaves and the nothing. He knew he had hit whatever it was, because it left a small trail of blood on the ground. He followed the trail to find a small, whimpering little animal. As he got closer he could tell that it was a large cat of some kind. Certainly not a bobcat, it was pure black. He crept closer until it snapped its head up and looked at him. He gasped and jumped back. It had beautiful, golden eyes with flecks of black and emerald in them. He felt that it was a girl, somewhere deep in his being that it was a she. He looked down at her injured leg, and the pitiful keening noise she was making at him. "C'mon," he said finally. "Let's get you inside."

And that was the beginning of Raksha

Chapter One…

6th yr.

Draco's POV

I groaned and fell back onto my bed. Life at Hogwarts was proving to be incredibly boring without the Golden Trio for me to torment. I was scared, too. It was always there, lurking in the back of my mind, the fear. The only time I wasn't afraid when I was with Raksha, and Dumbledore never let me take her into school. And then it hit me. Dumbledore. _Dumbledore_ never let me take Raksha into school. But Snape might. I needed to ask him. And soon. I was going crazy without the comfort of her silky fur pressed against my side and draped over my torso at night. She had grown into a sleek, muscled beauty. She was powerful and deadly, and no deatheater dared to enter his personal chambers without him there to tame her. She was as renowned as Nagini. That was it. I would go crazy without my Sha. With that thought in the front of my mind I stormed into Snape's office without knocking, not acknowledging the two deatheaters who sat across from him. "I need to go to the Manor." Snape did not look up from whatever paperwork he was signing as he sighed, saying, "What could you possibly need from the Manor _right. This. Second _so badly that you had to interrupt my meeting, Draco?" The familiar condescending drawl of my Godfather's voice could either be the most comforting thing on this God forsaken Earth, or it could make even the stoniest man feel like a child with his hand caught in the cookie jar. This particular time it was the former. Usually, I would let my embarrassment at being spoken to like that rule, or perhaps my anger. But with the thought of my precious companion in mind, I didn't care so much. "Raksha." At her name, the deatheaters stilled, watching to see what would happen next. Snape looked at me for the first time, and I knew his dark, bottomless eyes could see through me, and my thinly veiled exhaust and fear. "Leave us." He spoke, his lips moving only the slightest bit. The deatheaters filed out immediately. "I _need _her Sev." I let just a fraction of my desperation and fear seep into my words, as I did something any self-respecting Malfoy never did. I begged. "Please, Severus. Please." Snape sighed and dropped his head into his hands, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "I know I am going to regret this _deeply…" _I didn't let him finish as I grinned a rare smile and grabbed a handful of Floo, practically dancing as I could barely squeeze out a "Malfoy Manor," around my giant grin, so out of place and out of practice on my face

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Almost instantly after I stepped out of the fireplace I was tackled by a giant feline, who immediately nuzzled her head into the crook of my neck, mewling gently. I laughed and gripped her by the scruff of her neck, pulling her away from me as she insistently batted at my sides, trying to get me to wrestle with her. I rolled so that she was pinned underneath me, and she purred, flicking her tail to curl around my ankle. I gently butted my forehead against hers, resting it there and reveling in the soft, steady rise and fall of Raksha's chest underneath me. "You can come this year, Sha. He's letting you come _with _me!"


	2. Chapter 2

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Raksha

I sighed as I paced around Draco's room. I had on one of his t-shirts and an old pair of robes, restless from sitting in his room all day. _Oh, how I yearn for summer._ Summer was when Draco came home, and when Draco came home—I was happy. I touched the necklace around my throat and sat dejectedly on his bed. I kicked at his sheets which hung low to the floor. My ears pricked as I heard the familiar sound of a body flying down the chimney. I shed the stolen clothes quickly, throwing them on the wardrobe floor. Next, I took a deep breath, preparing myself mentally. My back arched, and in a few seconds I had also shed the skin of my human form, closing my eyes against the familiar burn of the change. When I heard the thud of my human charge's feet against the stone floor, I raced from his room, letting my nose lead me to him, springing on top of him but making sure his landing was soft. I settled my nose into his neck, inhaling his comforting scent. I wanted to weep as it overwhelmed my mind, blocking out anything that did not pertain to him, to_ my human_. I struck him lightly at his sides, my claws carefully retracted. He chuckled lightly and pulled me off of him, in one swift move putting me underneath him. _Damn, _I thought, the feeling of being underneath him reminding me of just how much he had grown up in the past few years. _I am a woman as well as a cat, Draco. Being in this position in this form is boring. _His forehead came to rest against mine. "You can come this year Sha. You can come _with _me!" My stomach plummeted. I couldn't deny him, it would seem odd. He would be suspicious. _Would that be so bad though? Him finally knowing? _No, I decided, if it came to that it would not be so bad for him to know the whole truth, finally. I mewled again and head butted him, jumping up and motioning towards the fireplace with my head. He nodded his head, smiling _my _smile, the one only I had ever seen. I purred as he grabbed a fistful of powder, brushing up against his side as he threw an arm around my neck. He stated clearly, "Hogwarts, Headmaster's Office." We arrived soundly, and it seemed like no one was there, but I still stepped out before Draco, surveying the room with a wary eye. I took a deep breath, finding foreign scents along with familiar ones. I could hear only two heartbeats, Draco's and my own. I moved back to Draco's side once I had confirmed that we were the only ones in the room. "Raksha Neko!" A voice boomed. I snarled and slammed Draco into the wall. He laughed and patted my head, saying, "Calm down Sha, it's just the sorting hat. He likes to freak people out." I looked at the old, wrinkly hat, where the voice came from. I approached it slowly. _You know what I am. How? _The hat chuckled. "There are many new things in your future if you stay here child. Not all good, but most. Enjoy your stay at Hogwarts." Draco pulled me towards the door, but I wouldn't budge. I stared at the strange and ominous hat just a while longer, pondering what type of new things were in my future. Eventually I decided that one most often meets their future while avoiding it. I followed Draco to the cold, damp dungeons Draco had hated so much those first few years. I stuck close to him, ignoring the stares and whispers of the few students straggling in the halls. He opened a door with a flourish; his dorm room I'm assuming. Inside it was an Italian boy who was leaning back on his bed reading, and a shirtless boy with admittedly impressive abs doing pull-ups. The Italian looked up and smiled kindly, nodding to Draco, then to me. The shirtless boy was far less gracious, glancing over at us fleetingly, and the when his brain processed what he had seen a second later the boy gasped and dropped to his bed. He stared at me quite rudely, glancing at Draco and asking, "Is this…Raksha?" Draco nodded, rubbing that special spot on my neck, right behind my ear and I purred and leaned into his touch. "She doesn't look like a fierce man-eater." The boy seemed disappointed. He wanted a show? Oh, well. He asked for it. I snarled and lunged, landing on top of the boy while baring my teeth in his face. The boy shouted, flinching into the bed as Draco laughed. "Draco get this thing off of me!" The boy exclaimed, panting heavily now. Draco laughed again, and said in between his huffs of amusement, "Sha, you'll frighten him to death. Get off." I growled once more before returning to his side, eyeing the shirtless boy like a predator would eye their prey, just to freak him out. The boy trembled, and I suddenly fell to the ground in chuffs of laughter. The Italian raised an eyebrow as Draco hopped on his bed, I following soon after. "If I didn't know any better," he started, lowering his chocolate gaze back to the book that had held his attention faithfully even at the arrival of such a large and dangerous animal as myself, "I would say that she was laughing at you Marcus." The shirtless one, Marcus, as I could now call him, sniffed indignantly. He hopped back up to the bar he had been hanging on before, rhythmically pulling up, inhale, lower down, exhale and said, "Cats don't laugh. Not even overgrown scary black ones." I lowered my head down onto my paws and took pleasure in the way the boy stared as I slowly, ever so slowly, lowered my claws so that they _just _pierced the silk fabric of Draco's sheets. Draco tugged on my ear playfully and I retracted my claws while rolling so that I was sprawled on top of him. He carefully rubbed and scratched all the specific places I liked, chatting idly with his apparent roommates. Soon I grew drowsy, and I placed my nose in Draco's hair, drawing his attention to me. "Sleep, Raksha. I'll be fine." I grumbled and settled down in the middle of the bed, knowing that he would eventually find the heat of my body and wrap around it in the middle of the night. I closed my eyes and drifted into darkness slowly, letting it envelop me completely.

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3rd person

The boys that had shared a room with Draco Malfoy for six years now stared at him and marveled at how much more relaxed he was. He seemed genuinely happy, something they had not seen from their dear friend in a long time. Too long, in fact. It was the first time he had looked his age in years, Blaise Zabini realized, and it was all because a certain large cat had been allowed to stay in the same dorm as him. But inside the Forbidden Forest a man knew that soon. The peace that the boy had found would be destroyed, along with all the other children in the school. The tall man with a mangled face looked out at the small group of deatheaters he had assembled. They looked back upon him, and in that moment the man did something more disturbing than anything else, by far the most grotesque look on the man's face yet. The man smiled, and all the innocents in the world got a small shiver.


	3. Chapter 3

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Chapter 3

Draco

Marcus' reaction to Sha was hilarious. I almost pissed myself laughing. It felt good to laugh again. I leaned back and sighed, Sha's ears twitching at the sound. I rubbed her ears and closed my eyes, letting slumber numb my senses.

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I was startled awake by the sound of feet banging up through the halls, and screams of terror reverberating in the dungeons. I sat up straight and saw Raksha pacing around my bed, eyes not leaving the door. "Draco," I heard a voice whisper, and I looked to my side to see Blaise and Marcus huddled next to each other on the side of my bed. "She wouldn't let us leave. I tried nonverbal spells on her but they just bounced off of her," Blaise whispered hurriedly. "Draco, I don't think she's a normal animal." Draco wasn't too surprised at the idea. Raksha understood Draco completely, and she had never shown signs of aggression towards him, not even when they were playing. Suddenly the door burst open, splinters going everywhere. Blaise, who handed Draco his wand, shot a spell without looking to see who it hit. A snarl filled the room and Draco saw Raksha rip out the throat of an approaching enemy. Spells flying, Raksha took down enemies with her claws, and Draco suddenly had a new appreciation of them. The haze of the fight blocked Draco from seeing Raksha. Suddenly, a deafening roar filled the dungeons and for a few fateful seconds everything was silent. Raksha lay on the floor in front of Draco, blood blossoming from either side of her body. Draco roared his own battle cry, lunging towards her, fighting his way through the last string of defense. He dropped to his knees next to her body and sobbed. It was the first time during this whole godforsaken war that he had openly cried in front of anyone. He clutched Raksha in his hands, his tears falling on her still warm body. "Sha, Raksha! My Raksha, don't leave me!" He picked up her body, barely feeling the weight as he rushed to the infirmary. He kicked the door open and placed her softly on the free bed that was nearest to him. He fell next to her, stroking her, holding her paw. He sobbed into her blood stained black fur. "Please, Raksha. I need you. I _love _you. Please."

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3rd Person

There, in the dimly lit infirmary, the fur receded into the elongating body of a panther turning woman. Her back arched, and she gasped, her eyes flashing open. The boy sobbing above her stilled, his bloodshot eyes twinkling with confusion. There was a small frown in between his eyes, and the woman reached out and rubbed it away with her thumb. The woman opened her mouth to speak, saying with a regretful tone, "I thought you should see me as I truly am, just this once, my Dragon."

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Raksha

As I waited for Death to claim me I looked into my human's eyes. The look of heartbreak he wore made me sorry for my death. I closed my eyes, but instead of the darkness I had anticipated, I was met with a blinding light. The voice of my long dead mother spoke to me. "Raksha, my sweet, it is not your time." I opened my mouth to express my confusion, but I found that no sound came out. "Go back to your boy Raksha. He needs you. Go back to him." Suddenly I was slammed back into my own body with such force I gasped for breath, my hand going to my heart. I sat up quickly, first noting that I was dressed in clothes that stunk of another. Second that I was surrounded by people. I looked around in confusion, surveying the faces of the humans around the bed I was resting in. "Raksha," he said, and his voice made me want to sob, as I had thought that I would never hear it again. "you came back to me." I nodded, staring into his icy eyes. Those beautiful icy eyes I thought I would never see again. I opened my mouth, and used the voice that no one had heard for years. "Yes, my human. I have."

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3rd person

The man snarled, his thin lips twisting in a way that made his face seem melted and swirled. "What the bloody hell do you mean, _unsuccessful?" _The small man before him shook and swallowed thickly, stammering his excuse, "T-there were-re so man-ny," the deformed man stood quickly, his robes billowing around him like an ominous blood red fog. "Leave me," his voice was so soft that he was barely heard in the room. "**Leave me!" **his shout practically rattled the windows. The small man bowed, murmuring shakily, "A-as you wish, m-m'lord." He scurried out of the room, leaving the deformed man to himself. Almost as soon as he shut the door a wine glass was thrown at it, shattering into little tiny shards and shattering on the carpeted floor below. The red liquid dripped onto the white carpet, and the man stared at the contrast for a minute, unblinkingly. "No," he whispered. "I will not fail again."


	4. Chapter 4

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Raksha

He smiled a breath taking smile for me, saying, "Dumbledore and Snape said that the spells thrown at you changed your form. This is what you'd look like if you were human!" He sounded excited, and somewhat surprised.

I shook my head slowly, looking at the tall man who stood a professional distance away from both of us. "What- what do you mean? I'm not _human." _

It was his turn to have a confused face. "Yes you are Sha. I mean- you are right now."

I shook my head again. "No, my human. I will never be human. I am not really a panther. I am Neko. You are my human, my charge. I… I can always go back and forth between forms." Draco's face fell, and he looked at the man. "Snape? What's going on?"

The man hissed, and brought his hands up to rub his eyes. "A Neko? Just our luck."

I growled a little. Neko's weren't exactly well liked in the wizard community. We were regarded as only just better than the werewolves, and that's only because we were few and far between. It was rare for us to have children, even more so for them to be female.

"Nekos are creatures that are able to shift between human and a type of large cat, most commonly lions. Usually they are males, and while some have jobs like protecting a certain community, or a specific town, most have human charges whom they protect through they're childhood. It seems that your protector is a female, which is a surprise. Females are rare, which is why Nekos are a dying breed."

Draco blinked, looking stunned. "You mean, you could have been human our entire time together?" I nodded. "This is…strange. You were charged to protect… me?" I nodded again. He sat back slowly, letting my hand fall from his grasp.

I sat up quickly, not caring when a scandalized gasp came from the healer who reentered the room, or the curse that came from the tall man. I grabbed his hand, cradling it in both of mine, saying quickly, "No, Draco! It's still me, I'm still your Sha, except now I can reply! I'm still your best friend, and I will always be your best friend! It's still me, Draco. I'm still here."

"I know, Sha. I know."


End file.
